So what is the story behind the Don Lemmon QVC Videos? To make a long story short, yeah, like I know how to do that, back in 1996 I came up with the idea to film some exercise videos using the most popular of my clientele. At first, being in Las Vegas, I planned on using clients that were part of various existing video projects like Body By Jake, martial arts aerobic instructors, and trainers seen in some of those home gym infomercials. Unfortunately, my videos just weren't coming together.
Too few people wanted the world to know I was to credit for their appearances instead of they having the KNOW HOW. I suppose that meant their clients would pay to have me train them instead or something... Others were afraid of losing clientele or endorsement contracts. Backed into a corner, I had to think of something quick. I had interested parties from television who wanted to 'sell' me but no product to offer. Distraught, I flew home to Ohio for a break.
During my stay I made some calls then drove an hour to Pittsburgh to meet with the manager of one of my clients. I got a good feeling from him so I told him more about the project than I expected and he offered further assistance. His name was J.M. Manion and in the lapse of a day, he set up my shooting to commence at his father Jim Manion's private gym a few months down the road. This worked out well in my mind as it is cheaper to fly people to Ohio than it is Vegas.
I was also just a few hours from the television station headquarters that was supposed to air my goods when completed. We all win with this new path and not only that, but the location was owned by the Vice President of the organization that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a name... Well, as they say, not all things are as easy as they first seem. Things went almost horribly wrong at that shoot and I should have learned my lesson that October.
Backing out was not an option, myself and several of the video stars had plans to attend one of the largest fitness convention in the USA that following week (here we are at the Dallas NPC Nationals). Catering to over inflated egos, people who weren't prepared to shoot on time... Editors who didn't do or seem to understand what was asked... Delays by people who didn't get their part of the project ready on schedule... People trying to get double paid... My accountant stuffing money where it was supposed to go... Gold diggers... Oh, the madness...
The way I see it now, since it was 1996 after all, despite the obvious glitches here and there, additional home styled guerilla editing, having a crew that was essentially doing something they had never experienced before and a lot of guests on the set getting in the way that were uninvited, I am surprised, and somewhat proud to say, there was a lot of cool footage captured despite after all. Sifting through everything I have, I may complain but in all honesty, I really enjoyed the laughs over things.
I will never forget things like one of the fitness champions calling a chest exercise a shoulder routine... My goodness, was she really that clueless? Yes. And reliving the joking around between those of us did that know our jobs... Priceless. In fact, I would love to offer these exercise videos free so you can share in the fun and to get them out to the public as fast as possible to show how far ahead of my time this project was, however... I can't do that. I can offer them at a fair price though, and here is why....
I practically lost the shirt of my back and skin off my bones over these videos. It is true. I came from Vegas to Ohio with money from personal training after giving up my quest to become a licensed physician (too many politics, needed a little more school, you know how it goes.... and with a dangling carrot of book sales instead of day to day office work... I grabbed the carrot...). Once I figured up how much the shoot, editing, flying people in and paying them for taking off work.
Oh, you thought these folks made a full time living off their looks? No, sorry Your heroes have real jobs and they aren't rich from being in magazines, movies or on TV... Paying for this, or that, I fell a bit short and borrowed money from my accountant who later claimed she put in more than she had. While she figured this would make her more money, all it did was convince the others involved that they should charge more if someone else was getting more....
Which they weren't and I am sure I will go on about this in a bit... You see, we did three shoots. The first one was in October of 1996 and it was practically a waste since the start. Oh, the footage is really amazing, the advice was beyond what anyone is offering to this day and the concept is leaps and bounds above the competition... The editing was just not what I wanted and I found myself spending so much time teaching half the stars to exercise correctly during filming that we did not get all we set out to shoot.
Sure, if your set is full of complicated people... People who do not read the script before shooting... Some of the problems I can chalk up to fate or coincidence. But some things were just plain inexcusable... Like the night before the second filming in May of 1997... We spent until 4 a.m. chasing down a stolen car. We ended up having both the local authorities AND the FBI involved. MAN, was THAT a riot... I wish I could tell you more but two of the people hired let themselves get scammed by a couple of fans...
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